Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-23

Company with regular steamships to
New York, South America, China and
australia, add competing company
besides running to Asia, and the steam
feet to the neighboring coasts north
and south is
GREAT AFFAIR,
Compared to the small old steamers
| saw out here, built of wood, like the
Orizaba, on my first trip. The steam
ers running hence to Oregon come
near excelling the very finest boats
which run out of New York, like the
Pilgrim and the Massachusetts,.
The next great change in San Fran
cisco is in its system of internal com
munication. Formerly, the high
sand-hills west of the town and
between it and the ocean were toe
steep for either vehicles or tramways:
By pushing the cable or grip railroad
system to superior excellence every
one of those hills is now brought into
the heart OF the town, and l have no
hesitation in saying that San Fran
cisco is the best supplied city in the
world with street railways. 1t seems
that the cable was first introduced
here, and that the long-headed men
of the Central Pacific Railroad, like
Stanford and Crocker, saw its ad-
vantages, so they bought up the
old, decripit street-railway system,
which was going begging, and, issuing
three millions of bonds, equipped the
whole concern with these cable-cars
The Nevada Bank, or bonanza people,
took the bonds. Instead OF running
trains of cars, as they do in New York
and Chicago, they run here only one
car of peculiar construction, the front
part OF it being an open car with two
seats in the front and two
long seats at the sides, the man
who manages the grip being
between these long seats; the
rear part of the car is covered vehicle
of large size. Those who wish to
smoke can therefore have chance on
the outside part of every car. In de-
scending some of these hills the
stranger here holds his breath at first,
but he soon observes that the system
of the grip is next to absolutely per-
feet, and he finally enjoys going down
the steep declivities. 1t is upon some
of the heighest hills that the wealthy
people have built their most expensive
houses. Through this car system San
Francisco has acquired
VAST NEW AREA OF RESIDENCES,
And real estate is hereby the foremost
interest everywhere.
The Bay of San Francisco to the op-
posite suburbs of Oakland and Alame-
da is something like three miles wide,
or three times the width OF the Hud-
son hiver at New York. Two great
piers come out from the eastern side
of the bay which are about two miles
long, made of stone dumped
into the bay. The facility
with which the passengers from
the steamers are taken into broad
gauge trains of steam cars and dis
persed over the surrounding towns is
quite remarkable. The upper decks
of the ferry-boats are inclosed in glass.
and make neat and spacious assembly
rooms, and the time required to cross
the bay is sufficient to per-
NIT of a good deal OF pleasurable in
tercourse. With the street cars and the
ferry sy stem both immeasurably
improved, and the general railroad
system of the state practically finished
and converging ut San Francisco, it is
no wonder that this cityis laying hold
of its own manufacturing system and
is practically independent of the rest
of the world. 1t has already gone
past that probation period OF most OF
our towns when they are never tired
OF building hotels. If any one
place is finished in the hotel
direction it is San Francisco.
If this town should ever become
bankrupt | think it could furnish bay
windows for all the cities of the globe.
The Palace hotel has
sEvENTY-Two BAY-wINDows
On one front. 1t is said to have be-
tween 500 and 400 bay-windows in all,
and now hardly house in San Fran
cisco can be considered finished with
out from one to six bays. The inhab-
itants say that their climate demands
light and air, and that house here is
not much more than roof which re-
quires to be open at the sides, out Of
doors being preferable to living in
closed-up houses.
They manufacture almost everything
in this city. You can see wire cord
age mills, great foundries VIII ch cast
any kind of machinery, and which
send stamping mills throughout the
Territories and to Mexico, Australia
and China. This coast is particularly
endowed with wonderful sort of lum-
ber in its redwood forests, of which
there are said to be hundreds OF thous-
ands OF acres still left. This wood is
of SO close grain that it takes fire
with difficulty, while it polishes
up equal to the best hard woods
Redwood is sold here, | understand,
| for about SIG per thousand feet, which
is the price we pay in the Middle
States for a very good quality of hem
lock, full OF knots.
They can even build large steamers
in California, and are now construct
ing one OF the ships of war, the
Charleston. They possess SO many
articles desired abroad that the mere
CailIlluS vi lTultS anu Ne5etdDleS anu
fish is becoming a large industry
With cheap brandy and spirits OF
wine, they are able to put up almost
every variety Of alcoholzed fruit.
Since | was here last, the system of
their parks has been callei into being
and drove yesterday from the city
out to the ocean, distance of four
miles, through uninterrupted park
and the main portion or carrefoul OF
this park is quite equal in its paths,
hower-plats, conservatories, ETC., to
the same features of any OF our large
parks, as indeed it was laid out by
the architect of all these parks, MIR.
| Olmstead. Here you see the
ONLY TWO PUBLIC STATUES
In San Francisco; the one of President